There was a time in my bikepacking journey, before I fell down the rabbit hole, when I actually thought bikepacking was a single style. Hah!
Now that I am neck-deep in this weird sport I see an entire taxonomy. As bike and gear options proliferate, we have more freedom than ever to choose our riding style, packing style, and aesthetic style.
To spark ideas for your next adventure, here’s an overview of various bikepacking setups categorized by style. Which resonates most with you?
Classic
Let’s start simply with the classic all-arounder, the setup most of us picture when we think of bikepacking.
Imagine a rigid mountain bike or perhaps a hardtail. Drop bars or flat, doesn’t matter. It’s covered in soft bikepacking bags and a few cargo cages carrying dry bags or large bottles. It’s versatile, relatively light (there’s only so much stuff you can fit in those bags), and streamlined.
This bikepacking setup is amazing for mixed-terrain routes. Think GDMBR, Western Wildlands, or probably at least 85% of the routes in bikepacking.com’s network. It can handle anything from gravel to 4×4 roads to singletrack. It’s where I started (once I got through the scrappy stage, see below) and it’s still my go-to bikepacking setup for most trips.
Scrappy
Let’s be real: bikepacking can be an expensive sport. When I first got into it I was trading money for time (read: quit my job to travel) and my primary goal was to spend as little money as possible.
This resulted in some weird stuff, like riding singletrack on a road touring bike. I initially used cheap dry bags and bungees from Amazon, and later the cheapest bikepacking bags I could find. In the very beginning I rode a couple short trips with most of my gear in a backpack.
For me this was a transition phase and I did eventually move upmarket in my bikepacking tastes. But I’ll always appreciate the scrappy ethos that prioritizes having experiences over buying stuff, and I still love finding great deals on used gear. Whether you start here or stay here, there’s pride in making do with what you have.
Shredpacker
If you’re a mountain biker who lives for techy singletrack, this is your dream bikepacking persona. Wedge a few tiny bags into your full-suspension bike (hardtails also acceptable), throw the rest in a roomy hydration pack, and off you go.
You can spot this type of bikepacking setup on remote and technical routes like the Colorado Trail and Arizona Trail, where you’ll find yourself on a long hike if you don’t have the riding skills. But for experienced mountain bikers, this traffic-free singletrack solitude is the holy grail of bikepacking.
This setup is notoriously hard to outfit with much gear, but that’s ok because gear makes singletrack less fun. Carry the bare minimum on the bike, add a backpack or hip pack, and enjoy the ride!
Here are a couple sweet examples:
Long Hauler
There’s a good reason most round-the-world cyclists favor a touring setup with panniers: they need a lot of stuff and spend most of their time on reasonably well-maintained roads. But in recent years a few long-haul bike travelers have started borrowing ideas from the bikepacking world, freeing them to explore less-traveled tracks.
These folks have put together some epic hybrid setups and mastered the art of packing relatively light for a very long time. I’m impressed! A couple of my favorite examples of this style:
I have, unfortunately, not ridden my bike around the world. But when I bikepack abroad for a month or two I still need a bit more space, so I have my own version of the long haul bikepacking setup which adds a rear rack and bikepacking-style 18 liter panniers:
Ultra Racer
On the opposite end of the spectrum from the long-hauler, we have the ultra racer. This distinction is more about gear and speed than distance. They might be out for a few days or racing across the country, and their setup will look pretty much the same either way.
Is there even any camping gear on that bike? Are they just out for a day ride? When you’re not sleeping, who needs camping gear anyway?
For some excellent examples sure to challenge your idea of how much gear you “need” out there, check out this post from bikepacking.com’s Atlas Mountain Race coverage:
I have my own version of this style because I like to dabble in racing, but I am slow. Thus I need more stuff, thus I’m slower, thus I need more stuff… Here’s my typical back-of-pack racing setup, which is minimal by my standards:
Even if you’re not racing, you might still want to draw from this style to lighten your load for fast and light trips or shredpacking expeditions where every ounce counts.
Rackpacker
In the early days of bikepacking’s mainstream rise, the whole point was to avoid racks. Soft bags all the way, no matter how much we have to stuff, cinch, and strain to make them work.
But practicality wins eventually and racks are making a comeback, specifically those designed with bikepacking in mind. Now we have all kinds of racks, including some that mount to bikes without eyelets, work with full-suspension mountain bikes, and carry cargo cages instead of panniers.
Racks give us nicely organized packing, a bit more capacity, and a setup that isn’t limited by suspension, a dropper seatpost, or a small bike frame. They can also offer aesthetic options that are harder to achieve with the typical bikepacking bag look. Sure they might add a little weight, but for many bikepackers the benefits outweigh the actual ounces.
And More
What did I miss? Fat biking, kidpacking, dogpacking, trailers… I know there’s a lot more out there and I don’t mean to exclude anyone!
Let me know in the comments below what style you’re currently most excited about and why you love it.